For the past few months we have watched the Black Lives Matter (BLM) groups participating in marches demanding justice for murdered blacks by the police in Ferguson, Mo., New York, North Carolina, etc. They have brought needed attention to the injustices and white supremacy permeating American society. I recently went to their website to read their mission statement and was struck by the lack of a coherent strategy/agenda for correcting these injustices.

What I found was a lengthy statement of the importance of minority, homosexual, and labor rights but I did not see an agenda. They stress the importance of bringing justice through activism but where is the activism applied? Interrupting Bernie Sanders and HIllary Clinton speeches with shouts and slogans does what? Going on MSNBC and explaining how BLM is important to all does what? Holding marches and yelling at local police accomplishes what?

They speak of transforming black lives and the ending of persecution of LGBT peoples. But how are you going to do that? Educating the abused and victims is great but what does it accomplish. They believe that activism as an end but as Hillary Clinton said recently when confronted by a member of BLM. What is your plan/strategy/agenda for accomplishing what you want?

Well, I have an idea for one agenda /strategy they can apply. How about voting drives to increase participation at the local level. As an example, lets look at Ferguson, Mo. A city which is two-thirds black and has a white republican mayor and at one point an all white city council. There was even an ex-police officer who was under investigation for killing an unarmed black man on the council. How does this happen? How does a police force of fifty plus officers in a predominantly black city have only three of four black officers. Why are blacks there content to sit on their asses and not vote thereby enabling the racists to take charge of the city and essentially enslave the black population through traffic fines and fees.

So in my view BLM should focus on local politics first. Promote voter registration drives and increase voter participation in cities like Ferguson to overturn the racist elected power structure which has a direct impact on the lives of the very people that BLM is concerned about. Yelling and screaming at national politicians makes for good national exposure but those politicians are not shooting black men, they are not firing LGBT people from their slave wage jobs, and they do not pay your slave level wages. Politics is local get busy doing something that really impacts the lives of real people.